Top 100 Pentium II-400s: A Shift in Power

The popular refrain is fast becoming a mantra: better, faster, cheaper . That's good news for PC buyers, but it's also likely to induce some anxiety. Prices are dropping so fast that the 400-MHz Pentium II you're ogling today could cost $250 less next month. Then again, the deals on top-flight systems are good right now--and waiting a month could easily cost you $250 in lost productivity.

What's driving the price slashes? For starters, with Intel's 450-MHz CPUs coming down the pike (see " Double Feature"), the chip giant can no longer charge vendors a premium for Pentium II-400s, and PC prices across the board have dropped accordingly. That's why 15 PII-400s appear on the power chart this month. But downward pressure isn't coming exclusively from Intel's 450-MHz chips. New CPUs like the K6-2-300 from AMD are keeping Intel on its toes as well. Indeed, the AMD-powered Micro Express MicroFlex-K6/300A costs just $1199, yet this midtower is stocked with 64MB of RAM, a 17-inch monitor, and a DVD-ROM drive. With performance comparable to a typical PII-300 PC, the K6/300A earns a budget desktop Best Buy this month, placing fifth. No wonder Intel has cut prices on its Pentium II processors twice in as many months.

Intel's been lowering prices so furiously that we had to join the fray: This month we dropped the price ceiling for budget systems from $2250 to $2000. The adjustment reflects the steep drop in PC prices over the past few months. The average PII-400 dipped toward $2500--with three models selling for less than $2000. The price cuts are affecting the budget chart as well--a typical PII-300 desktop retailed for $2829 in April, but costs just $1895 today.